ATIS Releases Telecommunications Network Reliability Report; 2004 Had Lowest Number of Outages in 12 Years of Data Collection.

WASHINGTON -- - Calendar year 2004 was a "great year for network reliability" as measured by outage frequencies reported to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) by wireline telecommunications providers, according to the Network Reliability Steering Committee (NRSC) Annual Report 2004, released today by ATIS.

The Annual Report 2004 analyzes major outage reports made by service providers to the FCC from January 1, 1993, through December 31, 2004. Data highlights from the Annual Report 2004 include:

--the lowest number of outages observed since the NRSC began its analysis of industry trends in 1993;

--facility outages were at a record low in terms of both number of events and impact;

--lowest number of local switch outages ever observed;

--second lowest frequency ever for tandem switch outages;

--a five-year trend of 19% annual reduction in total outage frequency; and

--an eight-year trend of 13% annual reduction for facility outage frequency.

The full text of the NRSC Annual Report 2004 can be found online at http://www.atis.org/nrsc/annualrpt.asp.

"The NRSC's statistical analysis over the years has given telecommunications companies guidance to allow them to focus their finite resources to preventing or reducing those types of outages that have the most severe impact. The success of that approach is shown in the 2004 results," said Archie McCain, chairman of the NRSC.

For more than a decade, the ATIS NRSC has been a forum for the industry to come together in a non-competitive setting to objectively analyze macro outage data for the wireline telecommunications industry in the United States. By applying statistical analysis techniques to aggregate industry-wide outage data, there is greater opportunity to identify trends and focus on solving systemic issues. The NRSC reports factual observations but stops short of offering interpretation.

The NRSC has been issuing its annual reports since 1994. However, new outage reporting rules that went into effect in 2005 fundamentally changed what outages would be reported and how that data would be handled and, as a result, NRSC access to the data is currently prohibited. While the NRSC is optimistic that its ongoing discussions with the FCC to gain access to the data will be successful, this 2004 report may be the NRSC's last.

About the NRSC

The NRSC was formed to monitor network reliability utilizing the information contained in major outage reports filed with the FCC. The Committee's mission is to analyze the industry's reporting of network outages to identify trends, make recommendations aimed at improving network reliability, and make the results publicly available, in order to help ensure a continued high level of network reliability.

About ATIS

ATIS is a technical planning and standards development organization that is committed to rapidly developing and promoting technical and operations standards for the communications and related information technologies industry worldwide using a pragmatic, flexible and open approach. Participants from more than 350 communications companies are active in ATIS' 23 industry committees and Incubator Solutions Program. www.atis.org